Ken Mueller was always in the thick of it in the 1960s, 70s and since. Please give him my regards. I am glad to see that he is still at it. You mention coronary problems. Those are another problem we long time distance runners face as we mature. It was deterimine in a routine physical in January that I had a fluttering heart. My heart is enlarged (Not much of a surprise to anyone on here) and one of the valves is leaking. My EKG was not normal and my resting pulse was up to 70. The chance of a stroke increased by seven times. The negative aspect of doctors intervention can be that some of the medicines they give you may slow running down even more.
I do not think that I mentioned in my previous posts that 9 of our Sunday running group are doctors. Last weekend I jogged slowly for 90 minutes with a group that contained two cardiologists. Friday, I entered a short-stay wing of a local hospital for four hours and one of my running mate cardiologists did a cardioversion. My resting pulse is now a normal (for me) 48 again. Our Sunday group, including myself and my two cardiologists, jogged for 85 minutes (with some walking) in the beautiful seaside town of San Pedro at 7 AM today. Having been a member of this Sunday running group for 36 years has its many pluses and has extended my running life.
By the way, while I was jog/walking, yesterday morning I came across a 64 year old lifetime marathoner who ran marathons in about 2:20 in the early 1970s. He has had Atrial Fibrillation (his resting heart beat was 100) and has had a cardioversion twice but seems to be cured now.
I wonder how many other longtime runners have had problems with atrial flutter or atrial fibrillation.
In our run this morning it was determined that "If you do not run for the love it, you will not be a distance runner for a lifetime."